ET Review: Motorola Quench XT3

It has been raining Android handsets in recent times and one of the latest on the block is the Motorola Quench XT3.

In terms of looks, the Quench XT3 is one of the smartest Android smartphones for executives with its dark grey colour and a very compact and yet solid, form factor. The front is dominated by the 3.2 inch 320x480 capacitive touchscreen, but what is beneath really catches the eye.

Apart from the regulation menu, home, search and back soft buttons, there are hardware buttons for call receive and reject and best of all, a very handy trackball. That may not sound like a lot, but any person will tell you that it is more assuring to receive a call by hitting a real button rather than moving your finger across the screen and the same goes for rejecting or ending calls.

The Quench packs in decent specs for its price point - you have a 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and support for 3G. But it is the fact that it runs Android 2.1 that caught our attention, especially considering that Samsung is the only other manufacturer offering an Android 2.1 device at this price. And it works very well too. The touchscreen is very responsive and apart from the support for Google services and social networks (Android's forte), there is also RoadSync for executives who would like to get their corporate mail, contacts and calendar on MS Exchange Server on their handsets too.

The camera does a decent job as long as one is not trying to make one's way into an art gallery - it scanned cards and took reasonably clear pictures of documents and scribble boards. The unit we got also had a voice dialer and voice note app on it - both of which worked reasonably enough. Speaking of voice, the Quench excelled in making and receiving calls, with excellent voice quality.

If the Quench stumbles in any areas, it is in the familiar ones of typing and battery life. The onscreen keyboard is simply not good enough for extended typing sessions and the battery is typical Android - with all your social network notifications and push mail running, you will start struggling before the day is out, so keep a charging point handy.

We also cannot fathom why Motorola did not bundle a memory card with the unit - pretty much a given these days.

All things considered, the Quench XT3 comes across as a smart and very efficient device for its price. The typing and battery issues means that it is unlikely to sway the 'BlackBerry Boys' but those on the look out for a touchscreen Android device below Rs 15,000 would be hard pressed to find a better one.